Working! 
But aside from that, I am once again on break from LOTRO. I was fine and dandy when I returned in April with my focus on PvMP but of course I had to go check on my Lore-master. I did some of the Moria instances with my kinship and got one more Radiance piece. Then, against my better judgment I dusted off my Captain and took him to Angmar where I worked to get him the full heavy Fem armour set. Sure enough I felt the sizzle, which was quickly followed by the fizzle, of burnout again.
It’s not specifically that I’m burned out on LOTRO, however, I think I’m just burned out on DikuMMORPGs as a whole. I thankfully have that Lifetime membership to LOTRO which has always allowed me to guiltlessly come and go as I please. But I am finding it impossible to get interested — much less excited — about any upcoming DikuMMORPG at all. Aion? Pfft! Please. World of Animecraft with a zone for flying but invisible walls everywhere else? Straight up DikuMMO with all the same old Diku features as every other DikuMMO the past decade? No thanks. To paraphrase Bartle, “I’ve already played Aion, it was called Every Other Frickin’ DikuMMO Ever.” BioWare is working on WoW: The Old Republic which at this point in time isn’t doing anything for me, though I won’t eliminate the possibility that BioWare may actually surprise me and put out a quality game that is fun and different, but honestly I’m just expecting the same old Diku stuff but with the best animated and synchronized Diku combat ever seen. The only MMOGs out there I have even a slight interest in are decidedly non-Diku. I think I can safely say I am Done with Diku. LOTRO will still be my main traditional (and therefore Diku-derived) MMORPG, and I will still tour some now and then that I already own like Age of Conan and Vanguard. I don’t have any faith that Mythic has the ability to suddenly turn Warhammer into a fun and compelling game to get me back there even for a brief visit, but stranger things have happened. But right now I just don’t see myself jumping on the bandwagon of any more Shiny New Sameness from here on out.
So I’m back to the 360 primarily. I still have Fallout 3 to work on. A friend was replaying Mass Effect so I popped that in and started a new campaign with my existing character, and got him to level 50! Plus my usual suspects of shooters, an RTS (Halo Wars) and an RTT (EndWar) to work on, I’m pretty happy.
I also picked up Too Human on the cheap. It received less than favorable reviews, and the demo wasn’t exactly spectacular but I have to say the full game has been extremely fun! I finished the campaign in a few days (it’s short, but I also played a lot) at level 29, then promptly restarted it. I’m pumped up to get level cap and work on the elite armor set and get the elite plasma rifle for my Commando. I will say that for me, the Commando class pretty much solves the iffy attempt at 360-degree control that causes so much confusion with the melee classes. The Commando pretty much sucks at melee and I only do it to knock an enemy in the air to juggle them with my rifle to crank up my combo meter. It’s a ranged ballistics class and is much, much easier to aim just fine and shoot things. Now I know what Pete meant the other day when he complained about Too Human though. It was designed from the start as a trilogy, and just when the story gets really cool, game over. Literally. A story cinema was playing and just as I said “oh, cool!” it all faded out and the credits rolled. Queue up a Darth Vader “nooooooooo!” yell and you get the picture. I’ve got a few AGE guys who’d like to co-op too, so I’m really looking forward to that.
On the PC, I’ve been playing Guild Wars again after close-ish to a year off from actually playing. The new Zaishen Bounty quests have been a blast and I’ve gotten over my fear of PUGs (well, somewhat) and just jump in with my Monk. Everyone runs them on Hard Mode which I have very little experience with, and it’s been a real eye-opener. I normally run Benjeth with the Healer’s Boon build, with a slight personal tweak, but Hard Mode has made me realize that I need to stop merely occasionally dipping my toes in the Protection line and just jump in and learn it. It seems that in Hard Mode — and PvP! — it’s more efficient and important to prevent the health bars from going down than it is to bring them back up. So there’s my project: Learn Protection and PvP. It seems every time I manage to make it for one of Van Hemlock‘s Tuesday Noob Club sessions, it’s PvP week and, as I discovered yesterday, he’s come to expect me to sigh in disappointment and vanish once I learn it’s PvP week. No more! I’ll give it a shot again, although I reserve the right to use the Shock Warrior I made just for the occasion in addition to monking with Benjeth!
In the interest of PvE emergencies and learning PvP someday, I started working on getting Benjeth a shield and spear. His current spear is a normal blue with a +19% enchant bonus, so I’ll still need to get a perfect one, but I did get a unique (green item) shield for him: Keht’s Aegis!
I have some more items that I want to get for Benjeth, but he’ll need to start going into Domain of Anguish, Fissure of Woe and the Underworld for them, which are some of the game’s most popular elite areas. Heroes and Henchmen cannot enter elite areas so I’ll have to learn who’s who in my new alliance to get into some groups.
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Welcome to the club. Not that I’m particularly glad this club exists or that anybody would be a member, but welcome all the same.
Honestly, I envy you having a good game selection to keep you happy on the Xbox, I haven’t been able to pick anything up for it lately. I think I have this disconnect where I mostly want to play 4X games, so I always forget to pick up the “something else” I need to fill the occasional action craving.
This post is an excellent reflection of how I’m feeling at them moment. You’ve obviously already read my rant.
I wonder how many other people feel the same way?
Hopefully the industry will start to realise that the DikuMMO has reached it’s peak and it’s time for change.
You echo what we’ve been saying here, Aion is more of the same, might be prettier, might have some nice fluff but seriously there is nothing new, extremely limited fighting with a y axis does not a ground breaking MMO make.
Might follow your lead and return to GW myself after a year out
Hey idiot…..when you write your little essays…take in consideration not everyone is a mmorpg nerd and automaticaslly knows what “DIKU” means. Not everyone has ZERO life like you so dont be such a nerd as not even explain your terms. Sheesh.
John, you *could* look it up. I’ve heard about these fancy internet things called “search engines”. Even Microsoft has one now!
Scott, welcome indeed. I’m even just about burned out on trying to find ways to make MMOs better. I’m recovering with some Tactics Ogre. Mmm… Tactics…
I really was feeling the same way as you…then I took that big break last year.
I think it helped me learn how to play these games again..
I am now getting more variety though, and plan to break it up every once in a while.
But, I wish the DIKU would try to be different…and until then, I will be pretty selective.
Now as to Too Human, I had issues with the controls myself..(that and well, the visuals seem blah)…but if it is cheap, this sounds good..
So, the Commando works like a regular shooter? COOL!
Cheers
Thanks everyone. Well, except the little child who could have Googled “DIKU” in less time than it takes this server to load up the comment page for his trolling… But I digress…
@Openedge: The Commando doesn’t work like a “regular” shooter, no, it’s an RPG after all. But you get to stand back and blast things and move your lock-in-reticule around with much more precision (usually). And it actually does uber damage, where trying to use guns on the melee classes is just for laughs. I actually love the visuals, the whole cybernetic fantasy gods thing I thought was pretty cool, but I wish it had more diverse terrain. At the end of the day, you’re always heading down a linear hallway, it just has different textures than the previous ones.
@Everyone: I think I’ll just have to use the old mantra “variety is the spice of life” from now on. I just don’t think I have it in me to do yet another Diku game when I’ve done so many already. And I have real problems with the Diku version of “levels” (read Raph’s article on that) and each new Diku game I try out winds up exacerbating my attitude toward them.
Consider this: many (most?) of us enjoy MMOGs in particular because they more or less feel more “alive.” We have the opportunity to socialize, it can be neat just to see other characters running about in the world and you know there’s a real player behind them. Occasionally we have the opportunity to do a random heal or buff on a stranger as we pass by. But otherwise, it feels like we’ve all become very insular. We only *really* play with our friends/guild/static group. Everyone else is just “out there.” If that attitude or behavior is true, then do we really need a MMOG specifically if the ultimate goal is to have FUN? At this point I’m looking forward to more co-op RPGs like Borderlands than I am MMOGs…
After a very entertaining evening in Urgoz’s warren in GW tonight I came away feeling like you that co-ops rather than MMOGs may be the way to go. Raiding in AoC became more like ‘homework’…back from work just in time to attend that raid I signed up for with the slim chance of getting that epic lewt, having a great team but fully conscious that being late or having to leave is letting the other 23 people down, at the end of the day I’m just not that ‘hardcore’. I game alot but when it starts to feel like work it loses its fun.
While i dont like the strict linear pathing and the total reliance on instancing that GW uses, as a co-op it’s a damn good piece of work, I’m hoping they can retain that co-op feel in a more persistent and dynamic world in GW2 and I really hope they dont decide to go down the road of large raid groups, the current ‘elite’ missions with a max of 12 allow for a flexible enough approach, 12 is far easier to organise or even PUG *shudder*.
We do become less outward looking once weve found a solid social circle in the virtual world, socialising becomes more limited in order to build that effective group of players who work well together as a team, in terms of PvE we rarely need to look beyond our immediate clique, alliances become useful when populations dwindle or some form of mass PvP is involved. Becoming insular isnt a bad thing, I could argue it’s the most effective way to spend your online game time.
LOL Scott. Just got around to finding your comment on my Feb post where you threadmanced my Too Human blog entry
I FINALLY got back on XBOX Live and now I have forgotten which Avatar is yours as well, but I got the dashboard update and I am good to go now.
I will give Too Human another try and possible go with a ranged character this time around.
I tend to fade fast on XBOX 360 games.
I find myself fading too quickly at DikuMMOs these days as well, hence a large chunk of this post. I nearly always get 360 games with multiplayer or especially co-op; it’s so much more fun and rewarding.
I’ll shoot ya a msg on XBL though, I’m always up for co-op adventures.
While I do agree in spirit with what you are saying, I think there is also a problem with the term Diku itself. When does a Diku-type MMO stop becoming Diku-type? There were lots of variations of MUDs which were based on the original DikuMUD code base, some reimplemented from other MUD-type systems.
I do not think there is a black&white situation here, rather some kind of sliding scale.
What I can say is that I tend to get tired of games where gaining xp and loot through fighting is the primary motivational factor, especially if it is dragged out long in time.
With other motivations being the primary driving force, I can still deal with the gameplay mechanics often.
I am also quite burned out of DIKU-MUDs. You mentioned it, I have exactly the same reason to feel bored by Aion before I even think about installing it.
Interestingly, I also regularly return to Guild Wars. I wonder why they do not make a game more in the SWG/Ultima Online style, I definitely like this more sandbox-approach better than LevelQuest with “endgame” problems.
Regarding the Underworld, you can “borrow” some Heroes from friends. Take a Spirit Spammer Hero with you, the new “spirit wall builds” are so strong that ONE of them alone is able to clear Aatxes, Smite Crawlers and even do some of the quests.
One of my worries with GW is that they somehow have a “back to the MMO roots” trend, which means a bit borrowing features from the standard DIKU formula and WoW. I am constantly worried about GW2.
Right now I am playing the offline game Mount & Blade, it gives me the medieval thrill that most MMOs lack nowadays. At least for me MMO spoilt kid.
I was disappointed with Too Human. I liked Eternal Darkness, but TH has some of the same exact problems and they feel less forgivable now. Weird animation, odd jumps in story, repetitive enemies, combat I don’t feel connected to, strange human character models, etc.
I really tried to like it, but I couldn’t.
I was in the Aion beta and, really, I don’t see what the fuss is over that one haha.